Self-Awareness
by lemnlime7
Summary: Things get a little meta when Ignis hears a song from a certain popular game series on the radio, prompting everyone to freak out over the possibility that people are watching their every move...


"Try our new and improved flavor of Cup Noodle. Now with shrimp! Love it or—"

"Come on down to the chocobo racetrack and place your bets! Every Sunday is amateur night—"

"Coleman sporting gear will make you feel at home, even in the middle of nowhere. Coleman: the brand you can—"

Ignis is busy flipping through radio stations, trying to find one that's actually playing some damn music. He has to honestly wonder about the need to put so much product placement where it has no business being...

He eventually tunes into a station playing a soothing instrumental piece which he ultimately settles on.

"What a gorgeous melody," he comments to his three friends riding along with him in the Regalia. "So simple yet so profound at the same time."

"Yeah, it is pretty good." Noctis comments from the back seat. "Never heard it before."

"Let's find out what it is!" Prompto shouts in the front seat. He opens an app on his cell phone and holds it near the speaker for a few moments before reading the screen. "The Prelude, as featured in the Final Fantasy series."

"What series?" Noctis asks, perplexed.

"Final Fantasy. Hmm...I've never heard of it either. Let me check it out." He pulls up Wikipedia on his phone, types 'final fantasy' into the search box and begins reading the results. "Final Fantasy is a long-running video games series created in 1987. The most recent entry in the series is Final Fantasy 'ehks vee'."

"That's ' _fifteen_ ', doofus! Haven't you ever heard of Roman numerals?" Gladio ribs. "And here I thought you were the big RPG geek here, Prompto. If this series is so big, how come you've never heard of it?"

"Just because I play them doesn't make me an expert!" he smarts back. Prompto returns his attention to his phone and clicks the link for this new 'XV' game. He reads in silence for a few moments before his eyes go wide. "Uh...guys..." he stutters. "This game...it's...uh...it's..."

"Spit it out, already, man!" Gladio yells.

"It's about us! _We're_ in this game!"

Several moments of silence pass between them before Noctis speaks up. "No way. You're shitting me."

"No, dude, seriously! Look!" He turns to Noctis in the seat behind him and holds the phone up to his face.

Noctis begins reading the text on screen. "In the game, you play as Noctis, the crown prince of Lucis who travels with his three friends on a quest to..." he slowly begins trailing off as his mouth starts hanging agape, clearly too shocked to continue reading aloud. " _No. frickin'. way,_ " he says in the same exaggerated tone he uses when remarking on the mind-numbing size of the towering Catoblepas.

"Yes frickin' way. There are people watching us, dudes! This is majorly creepy stuff right here!" Prompto says, most terrified.

"This has gotta be a prank. Knock it off, already, Prompto. You're scaring the living daylights out of poor Noct here," Gladio demands.

"Why would I mess around about something like this, dude?" Prompto replies indignantly. "I would never do something like that!"

"Oh, yeah? And what about last week when you snuck those peppers into everyone's food and laughed while we had raging diarrhea for the next two days?"

Prompto twitches noticeably at being reminded of his "harmless" little stunt. Apparently, his endless giggling every time they ran to a bush with the runs combined with the fact that he was the only one of the group not to share their same problem had raised some eyebrows.

"Yeah, we know it was you who did it. You're just lucky we like your fuzzy-wuzzy hair too much to tear you limb-from-limb for pulling that little number on us," Gladio says in a mock-sweet voice while leaning forward to ruffle the blonde's silky tresses.

"Yeah, but this time I'm serious! This isn't a prank!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen! Enough with the arguing!" Ignis interrupts. "We shan't resolve anything through this inefficient bickering!"

Prompto and Gladio grumble and cross their arms in annoyance before ultimately ceasing and desisting as requested.

"That's better," Ignis comments approvingly. After some moments of quiet contemplation, he adjusts his glasses before adding, "Well...I, for one, think the prospect of people vicariously partaking in our adventures is rather marvelous. It's only natural that some industrious corporation would do something to honor our celebrity whilst simultaneously entertaining the masses. I truly believe that it can only be a good thing."

Noctis, however, has remained pallid and stone-faced this entire time. His mind quickly flashes over the many embarrassing things he's done that he hopes hasn't been seen by the masses...like that time when he answered the call of nature behind that bush and didn't wipe...or that time he, ahem, pleasured himself in the tent when everyone else was asleep...or the time when...

In an act that must have broken at least one law, Prompto suddenly jumps to the back seat and wedges himself in the middle before throwing an arm around his best buddy. "So, Noct, do ya think there's any fanfics about us out there?" he asks as he starts navigating to a certain website.

Noctis just remembers wishing he could have curled up and died right then and there.


End file.
